Page 1196 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video

(11) the fuel cost and emissions from dead running buses between bus depots and the starting point of Redex services;

(12) the existing stresses and lack of resources on other parts of the ACT bus network;

(13) the opportunity cost within the network of spending $1 million on these services; and

(14) that a $1 million investment in public transport could be better spent by providing:

(a) choice to Gungahlin commuters with more direct route services from Gungahlin suburbs to the Gungahlin Town Centre and city;

(b) resources for improving bus priority on existing routes to cut travel times; and

That was the motion in 2009 which Mr Rattenbury said was bagging out buses. That was the motion that he thinks is, in effect, the silver bullet for his case that I have been anti-bus for seven or eight years. Unfortunately, you did not actually read the motion.

MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Coe, I remind you again.

MR COE: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I do apologise; I will not refer to members in such a way.

We welcome the opportunity to relitigate the case we made in 2009, both today in the Assembly and, of course, in our policy which was released last week. We have been consistent for many years that we are all about providing an attractive public transport option for all Canberrans. That is what our motion does: it says we need to have an effective and efficient public transport system and we know that, in Canberra, due to the dispersed population and the fact that we are not a dense city, we are always going to largely depend on buses as our primary mode of public transport. The evidence is very clearly there.

The government’s proposed $698 million dollar construction of light rail from Gungahlin to the city will service only three per cent of Canberra’s population who are within walking distance of a tram stop. So the other 97 per cent, including 85 per cent of Gungahlin residents, are going to be worse off as a result of what the government is proposing.

In contrast, the Canberra Liberals have a plan for all of Canberra. We believe the eight rapid routes that we launched last week are genuinely a service for all of Canberra. We think it is something that will encourage more people onto public transport. We think making more attractive public transport options and actually having buses that travel the way that people would drive is a good starting point to get people out of cars in the ACT.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video